title: Incentivizing primary care providers to innovate: building medical homes in the post-Katrina New Orleans safety net.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate safety-net clinics' responses to a novel community-wide Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) financial incentive program in post-Katrina New Orleans.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between June 2008 and June 2010, we studied 50 primary care clinics in New Orleans receiving federal funds to expand services and improve care delivery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Multiwave, longitudinal, observational study of a local safety-net primary care system.
  
  
  METHODS
  Clinic-level data from a semiannual survey of clinic leaders (89.3 percent response rate), augmented by administrative records.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 62 percent of the clinics responded to financial incentives by achieving PCMH recognition from the National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA). Higher patient volume, higher baseline PCMH scores, and type of ownership were significant predictors of achieving NCQA recognition. The steepest increase in adoption of PCMH processes occurred among clinics achieving the highest, Level 3, NCQA recognition. Following NCQA recognition, 88.9 percent stabilized or increased their use of PCMH processes, although several specific PCMH processes had very low rates of adoption overall.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings demonstrate that widespread PCMH implementation is possible in a safety-net environment when external financial incentives are aligned with the goal of practice innovation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Community Medicine, Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco, CA.
authors.forename: Diane R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Rittenhouse
authors.forename: Laura A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Kevin J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wiley
mesh_terms: D055867:Cyclonic Storms; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D018166:Health Care Reform; D006291:Health Policy; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D055820:New Orleans; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D064876:Safety-net Providers / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Primary care; community clinics; health reform; implementation; medical home